The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-12-21
Fourteenth Annual Convention or
the Ma ional Wet. u, Nashville,
Tenn, Nov. 1921.

come to the NatlOnal w OmanS CnrStlan
Temperance Union Convention. Three hun
dred and forty one officers and delegates, rep
resenting thirty eight States and Territories,
met in counsel together over matters Of nome
interest, each with independent thought, but
united plan, is the finest illustration ever seen
Of Victor Hugo's prophetic utterance, ''The
Nineteenth Century Is Woman's Century"
Here ministers, doctors, lawyers, journalists,
teachers, experienced home-keepers, philan-
thropists and cultivated young ladies, each
bring their special gifts and graces, and In the
exchange of thought each bears to the indi-
vidual work a home something Of the general
knowledge and inspiration. Not only Is the
North and South, the East and West here rep
resented, but different nationalities, knowing
no dividing line. Pundita Ramabai, the
high caste Hindu widow, pleads for her sisters
in India; Mrs. Turnstall, Of Indian Territory,
voices the cry OF her Cherokee mates, that
whisky may be bound, and the Indian wig
wan be free; and the colored unions Of Ten
nessee and Alabama, organized into State
Societies, have graduates Of the Fisk Univer-
sity to represent them.
Nor is the National Union more different.
ated from other organizat 'ons in the many
lines of work-forty or more distinct depart.
ments, embraced under the general heads o.
and legal, each with skilled leader at Its
head, and duplicated in State and local Unions
than in its National President, Miss Fran
ces E. Willard, who holds q most intimate
relation to all these depar, ments, and has a
heart knowledge Of all the needs OF humanity.
Watkins Hall had been secured for the
meeting Of the Convention, but when the
delegates were seated there was small room
for visitors When the need for larger
space reached the authorities Of the Cumber-
land Presbyterian Church-the largest in the
city, holding about 1,200-they hastened to
offer its use, which was gladly accepted, and
banners and bannerettes, flowers and women
were speedily transferred.
Miss Wizards annual address, the morning
Of the 10Th, was remarkable for breadth OF
vision and depth Of human sympathy. The
bugle of your advance strikes the keynote OF
the Church universal, and the drum-beat OF
your hearts, now throbblng round the world,
predicts the day when the nations shall form
one universal brotherhood. Your white rib
bon prophesies, the wLite flag Of peace that
yet shah wave at the mast head OF every
ship, and from the dome Of every capitol
upon the globe. For nothing less has God
with the prayer Of faith, and the badge Oh
snow, and the song Of victory singing"
Would that we could picture the ConVen-
ton at this opening hour. Miss Wllllards
power Of riveting all eyes, and holding all
senses as she brought fact and declaration
and prophetic utterance in clear resouIdlng
words; her compatriots gathered about her,
the silver-haired Mother Thompson, lea !eadeE Oh
the crusade in Hillsboro, Ohio, In 1878; Han
nah Whitall Smith, the Quaker evangelist;
Mother Wallace, the Deborah of the franchise
movement, and Ramabai, in native costume,
| and before them the tables crowded with re-
porters for the press Of Na'hville and other
cities, and the audience that crowded pew
and aisle and outer hall, so still that PIN
fall might have been heard.
Prominent among the features OF the Con-
vention were the Bible readings each morn
ing. by Hannah Whitall Smith. The key
note Of them all is sounded in this one sen.
tence- "Love fulflls all other laws, but it
must be the kind which is spelled Owe, not
| s-e-l-f-s-h-n-e-s-s. The welcomes to the
Convention, and the re ,ponses thereto, we're
given the evening of the 10th. in the Cumber-
land Presbyterian Church. Gov. Taylor, on
behalf Of the State. and Mrs Llde Merl. Men.
wether, on behalf Of w. G. I. U, cordially
bid them welcome, and Mrs. J. K. Barney as
cordially accepted.
That the broadest liberty is accorded mem
bers of the w. c. T. U. is proved by the fol-
lowing bylaw passed on Tuesday morning:
'tNo State Union shall be bound by any
principle espoused or plan devised by the
National w. C. T. u, except that all State
auxiliaries must subscribe to the tota! ao-
stinencepledge, and to the Constitution Oh ene
National
Memorial services we're held Thursday
afternoon for Mrs. Shields, President, OF
Colorado. and Mrs. Tobey, Secretary OF the
department Of Scientific Temperance lnstruc-
ton. Tender mention was made or hn0u-
erick Dhu Gambrell by Mrs. Smell, OF Mis-
sissppi, ana of John B. Finch, by MISS VIII
lard.
Early in the year the National W. G. T. U.
49, fofo SQGs
tion of the country for the greatest per cent
of increase in membership, and the presenta, ,
ton was a delightful occasion. 1t transplreo
the evening Of the 18th. MASSACHUSETTS,,
Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Mime
sofa, Wisconsin, Tennessee and New YORK
were the favored States. This called OUT
sixteen impromtu speeches from women IN
as many States, which won the apProval OF
the audience, and this commentator Iroili
the American: "At least in impromtu speak
ing, these women excel any set OF men Inat IL
has been our fortune to hear on any luxe oc-
casion."
The morning Of the 18th was election day,
and fluttering white ballots again called MISS
Willard to the leadership Of the white-ribbon
army. OF 3!O votes she received 3l3. Inc
other general officers were re-electeo.
The Temperance Temple was maged IN a
large photograph, placei before the conven-
ton. and Mrs. Carse, of Chicago, the origin
ator of the plan presented the subject to the
members. A building Of massive proper
tions, O square in length and breadth, twelve
stories high, central in location in the central
city of the United States. to be erected at q
cost of $S.O,O00. Great enthusiasm prevailed.
and gifts and stock were pledged from DIFF
ferent States to the amount of $40, 900.
Each evening several meetings were held
in Masonic Temple and churches always with
crowded houses. Music Of the finest sort has
been provided. Mr.. and Mrs. Bent led the
hymns with white-ribboned golden cornets,
and the Herbert Quartstte from Monmouth,
ILL.,, sang stirring prohibition songs.
The resolutions Of any body marx enelI
progress from year to year. The NaGlonai
takes no backward steps The Internal n Keve-
nue. was declared against; the Blair pni en-.
dorsed protest uttered against perSonantles
in politics; for enforcement or SUNDAY avs
for equal suffrage; scientific temperance IN
struction; endorsing the Prohloltlon parry,
and Society Of Peace, which sent Mr. WIN.
Jones, Of London, to present It's Klnaiy mes
Nearly all the churches on Sunday were oc-
cupic,l morning, afternoon, and evening, by
w G. r.. u. women, "a revelation to the
neon,e of Nashville" and one heartily en-
loved, Rev. Anna Shaw, of Boston, preached
The convention sermon in the Cumberland
PRESBYTERIAN Church; Miss Willard and DR..
Bushnell, of Chicago, talked OF social purity
in the McKendree Church in the afternoon,
to an audience Of women and girls, and at
night Mrs Governor Wallace, Of Indiana,
spoke on the franchise for woman in the Ma
sonic Temple, while mass meeting was held